Morning journal and courier., 1887-06-03
AN INTERPRETING EXHIBITION,

Principal Williams, of the American
 Asylum For Deaf Mutes at Hartford,
 Makes Interesting Statements Re-
 garding the Progress of Deaf Mute
 EducatiOn-Pupils of the School Ex-
 hibit and Show Remarkable Pro-
 ficiency.
 People go to some entertainments or ex-
 hibitions from feeling of duty or out of
 courtesy and sit through badly constructed
 programmes poorly given and go home weary
 and with the headache. But those who went
 to the exhibition given by party of pupils
 of the American Deaf Mute asylum of Hart
 ford at the Calvary Baptist church yesterday
 afternoon experienced such feeling and
 were highly entertained for two hours or
 more by the remarkable proficiency shown by the ten pupils of the asylum, who were under the charge of Principal Job Williams Principal Williams began with few gen. eral statements to the audience, which was quite large one. "In general population" ! said he, 'fone person in 1 400 is deaf mute ! and one in 1000 is or should be deaf mute | pupil at some school. One-third of these | are born deaf and the rest become so from | the various diseases of children. Without | hearing and without speech they are cut off | from the public schools. The problem of | their education was undertaken at the Ameri- | can asylum seventy years ago and remarkable | solutions were obtained. Other States and l organizations in rapid succession initiated I the pioneer enterprise of Connecticut, 1 until over seventy institutions for the deaf have been established in the United States l alone with an annual attendance of {, ,O00. | The alumni of the American esylum alone ! number 2,200. The asylum at Hartford is ! open to the whole country, but it's patronage i is mainly from New England. It has pro- | ductive funds of considerable value. This | income and per capita allowance from the | several States are carefully expended in pro- | viding for deaf children a good common | school education. Just ideas of life, the use of written and spoken language, | serviceable trade, energy, intelligence | and character are the objects sought \ in the management of the school. Deaf mute ! education impliss extended obJeet-teachlng, | explanatory pantominae, constant written | language, finger-spelling and as much oral | spelling as the pupil has the ability, the am bition and the time to acquire" MT. Will ! Hams told a pleasant story in pantomime. | This all wrote out and their compositions il- lustrated lucidly of the progress of pupils from cless to class. A separate exercise was specimens of composition done under the eye of the audience by pupils in the first year. They constructed simple sentences without end with very commendable readiness, in
 
 words.
 A very remarkable acquaintance with the main points of the geography of the United States was afforded by @ pupil of this year ! in that branch. There were other pupils of higher classes who were perfectly at home with arithmetical questions involving the use of fractions, reductions and percentage. Pu pills who have studied English history for two years were questioned at length by their | teachers i'll nearly all cases upon topics named by the audience. The answers were quickly given and were remarkable for accu- | racy and fullness.
 The naturalness to deaf mute and the
 universal grace of cultured pantomime were ! beautifully illustrated by the reel tation of "Nearer My God to Thee," ''Abide With Me' and the Lords ! prayer. The latter was also spoken concurrently by a pupil, and the hymn ''Abide With Me- was also orally rendered. At the close of the exercises Principal Will | Hams called upon Professor Day for remarks I on what he had seen. The latter is an expert on the subject of teaching deaf mutes. He ! expressed himself as highly pleased and gtat- | fled by the interesting and truthful exhibi- l tion. He was greatly impressed by the value of the work done by the American asylum Principal Williams said there are now one hundred and sixty pupils in the school. A. | s. Clark and Miss NJ. Allen, teachers at the I school, took part in the exercises yesterday afternoon.